The Saragossa Manuscript

  • February 16, 2014 / 14:00
  • February 21, 2014 / 19:00

Director: Wojciech Has
Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Iga Cembrzyńska, Elżbieta Czyżewska, Gustaw Holoubek
Poland, 182’, 1965, black and white

Polish with Turkish subtitles

Fully and recently restored version of Has's psychedelic epic.  During Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, two soldiers discover a strange manuscript at an Inn. The book chronicles the adventures of Alfonso van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski - Ashes and Diamonds). Alfonso’s passage through the dangerous Sierra Morena Mountains is repeatedly interrupted by seemingly random encounters with an assortment of larger than life figures. Tunisian princesses inform Alfonso that he is their cousin and their betrothed; an occult scholar ensnares Alfonso with confounding stories about feuds between Merchants and hardships faced by gypsies. And of course, Alfonso never did expect the Spanish Inquisition. Adapted from explorer Jan Potocki’s magnum opus, Wojciech Has’ The Saragossa Manuscript is a major cult film of the 1960s. Its admirers include filmmakers Luis Buñuel and David Lynch as well as musician Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Its approach to storytelling, admiringly described by comics artist Neil Gaiman as ‘a labyrinth inside a maze’, features stories within stories, alternatively frightening and comical in its mind-bending exploration of human nature.

Canal

Canal

Ashes and Diamonds

Ashes and Diamonds

Night Train

Night Train

Mother Joan of the Angels

Mother Joan of the Angels

Innocent Sorcerers

Innocent Sorcerers

Knife in the Water

Knife in the Water

The Saragossa Manuscript

The Saragossa Manuscript

Trailer

The Saragossa Manuscript

Symbols

Symbols

Pera Museum’s Cold Front from the Balkans exhibition curated by Ali Akay and Alenka Gregorič brings together contemporary artists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

Game of Mangala

Game of Mangala

Three figures in Eastern dress are shown in repose against an exotic landscape, smoking pipes and playing mangala. Inventories of the royal collections from 1739 identify the members of this group as the royal eunuch Matthias and two odalisques. 

Mersad Berber

Mersad Berber

Mersad Berber was born in Bosanski Petrovac, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, on January 1st. He was the first son of Muhammed Berber and Sadika Berber, a well-known weaver and embroiderer. A year later, the family moved to Banja Luka after the city had suffered damage from the World War II.